Large map: etching, engraving, and drypoint on three attached sheets of heavy laid paper. Image size (from plate mark): 121.2 x 71.1 cm. Sheet size: 132.1 x 82.1 cm.
Piranesi’s map extends the area covered by the Nolli plan as far north as the Ponte Milvio. Piranesi has made the important innovation of identifying 402 archaeologically important sites, keyed to his own works on ancient Rome.
"By the mid-1770's, at the height of his career, Piranesi had produced a comprehensive record of ancient and modern Rome in the form of the well over a hundred plates of the ‘Vedute di Roma’.
Contents: The books of the Bible and prologues are very close to the standard Paris sequence (f.1), omitting Psalms, and with a capitula list for Genesis; the Interpretations of Hebrew Names in the version from Aaz to Zuzim (f.167), alphabetised to the first two letters; preceded by added notes on the four types of biblical exposition (historical, tropological, anagogical, typological) and the seven rules of theology (f.
Jena: bey Samuel Krebsen, in Verlegung Thomas Matthias Götzen, 1661
$5,800.00
Quarto: 19.8 x 16 cm. [128] p. π1, ):(4, A-M4, a-c4
A rare astronomical work by the astronomer Erhard Weigel, a teacher of Gottfried W. Leibniz. The engraved frontispiece shows a man holding a telescope, standing before the University of Jena, with other astronomical instruments (quadrants, sextants, a globe, etc.
Zinner p. 582; Poggendorff II, 1283; Kenney 20; Brüning 1061; Pogg. II, 1283; Struve 17; Bircher A1193; FdF 1506-07; not in Hou-zeau-L.; Lit.: Klaus-Dieter Herbst (ed.). Erhard Weigel (1625–1699) und die Wissenschaften. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang 2013
The Martyrdoms of The English Carthusians & Their Brothers in the Netherlands
Octavo: 2 parts in 1 vol. [16]-111-[1 bl.], [16]-77-[3] pp. *8, A-G8; A-F8
Two gripping, contemporary accounts of Carthusian martyrdom: The first is Maurice Chauncy’s relation of the May 1535 execution of eighteen English Carthusians, including their prior, John Houghton, who refused to take Henry VIII’s Oath of Supremacy.
Leiden: Gio. Sambix [i.e. Johannes and Daniel Elzevier], 1654
$9,500.00
Duodecimo: 12.7 x 7 cm. (24), 307, 1 blank pp. Collation: [†]12, A-N12 (N11-12 blank)
This is the rare first edition of this polemic against paternal authority by the Benedictine nun Arcangela Tarabotti. In this work, originally titled “Tirannia paterna”, Tarabotti speaks against the injustice of the forced monachation of girls and women, arguing that “La divotion forzata/ Al signore non è grata” (Forced devotion to God is not freely given.
Willems, Les Elzevier, Nieuwkoop, 1974, p. 183, nr. 740; Berghman 1226; Rahir 744; Copinger 201. See Panizza-S. Wood, A History of Women’s Writing in Italy, Cambridge, 2000, p. 332
Gutenberg's Other Great Innovation - The Hibbert-Botfield copy of the Catholicon
Theo Gerardy in Gutenberg Jahrbuch articles of 1971, 1973 and 1980 showed that the Galliziani and Tower/Crown paper stocks in the Catholicon did not exist in 1460 and therefore suggested a date in the late 1460s for the edition as a whole. This dating of all three issues to c. 1469 was later taken up by Lotte Hellinga, who added numerous details and arguments to support it in a wide-ranging investigation of typographical evidence in the Catholicon and textual evidence in the 4° Aquinas (see Gutenberg Jahrbuch1989, 1990, 1991, Bulletin du Bibliophile 1991, The Book Collector 1992, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens 1993).
HC *2254; GW 3182(3); BMC I, 39 (IC. 303); Goff B-20; CIBN B-13 (II); De Ricci, Mayence 90.71 (one of two "exemplaires disparus"). BMC assigns letters to the collation: a-f10, g4, h-t10, v4+1, A-S10, T4. On the Polling provenance, see Richard van Dülmen, “Aufklärung und Reform in Bayern, I. Das Tagebuch des Pollinger Prälaten Franz Töpsl (1744–1752) und seine Korrespondenz mit Gerhoh Steigenberger (1763–1768),” in Zeitschrift für Bayerische Landesgeschichte(ZBLG, 1969) 32 (1969), p. 733, letter of 7 January 1766 to Steigenberger [attached]; and Aretin, Neunter Brief, in Beyträge zur Geschichte und Literatur, vorzüglich aus den Schätzen der Königl. Hof- und Centralbibliothek zu München. I (Munich: Lindauer, 1803), 89
An early Zel quarto: Rufinus' Apologia for the Virgin Birth
Chancery quarto in half sheets: 20.6 x 14 cm. 30 leaves. Collation: a-c8, d6 (leaf d6 blank and present). 2a: 27 lines, 146 x 85 mm. Type 96 (108) Voulliéme 1057. Hain *8578.
The printer:
"Ulrich Zel is no obscure figure in the history of printing.
Quarto: 21.7 x 16 cm. [34] lvs. Collation: [i]12, [ii]10, [iii]12. Complete with the initial and terminal blanks.
The exceedingly rare first dated edition of one of the two earliest astronomical treatises on comets. This work is distinguished from the other by not only recording observations but also containing mathematical calculations to determine the size of the comet and its distance from the earth, making it the first printed book by a living author to employ pure science in the investigation of an observed natural phenomenon.
ISTC ic00785000. GW 7253. HC 15513 . Goff C785. IGI 3105. Klebs 972.2. BMC V 237. BSB-Ink S-203. GW 7253. E. Zinner, Regiomontanus: His Life and Work, Amsterdam 1990, pp. 130-132. Thorndike pp. 359-360. J. Green, Printing and Prophecies: Prognostication and Media Change 1450-1550, Ann Arbor 2012, p. 64. Dibdin, Bibliotheca Spenceriana IV, nos 787-788. Biblioastrology 7169. Jürgen Hamel, Bibliographie der astronomischen Drucke bis 1700, p. 116
Crime & Punishment in 15th c. Bologna - The First Edition - No Copies in North America
Bologna: Henricus de Colonia, 7 Dec. 1479, 5 Jan. 1480
$17,000.00
Folio: 42 x 28.5 cm. Three volumes bound as one: Pars I. 143 of 144 lvs. (lacking 1 blank). Collation: a10, b-i8, k6, l-m8, n-o6, p-q8, r-s10. (lacking blank leaf a1). Pars II. 210 lvs. Collation: A-F8, G6, H-L8, M6, N8-O8, P6, Q-R8, S6, T8, U10, X-Z8, [et]8, [con]8, [rum]8, [bus]8. Pars III. 48 of 50 lvs. (lacking 2 blanks). Collation: a8, b6, c10, d6, e8, f4, g8. (lacking blank leaves a1 and g8). Complete.
EXTREMELY RARE. There are no copies in North America aside from a single copy of Vol. I only (Harvard Law Library), nor are there any copies of either of the other 15th c. editions (Milan, 1492 and 1497) in North America.
First edition of these commentaries on the fifth book of the Decretals, the official body of canon law, written by the accomplished Bolognese lawyer and decretalist Giovanni d’Anagni, who lectured on this text for more than twenty-five years.
Median folio: 31.5 x 21.5 cm. 325 of 326 lvs. (lacks 1st blank leaf). Collation (supplied by BMC): *10, a-z8, A-P8, Q-R6.
A book previously held in a chained library, in an unusual, red-dyed binding.
213 sermons on the Ten Commandments by the Dutch mystic Hendrik Herp, whose writings had a profound impact on later mystical writers, including Francisco de Osuna, who in turn influenced St. Teresa of Jesus.
From 1445, Herpf was a rector of the Brothers of the Common Life in Delft and, later, in Gouda, where he encouraged book production in particular.
Quarto: 19 x 14 cm. Collation: a-f8 g10 (a1 blank, a2r dedication to M. Fabius [Quintilianus?], a3r text, g9r commendatory poem by Jacobus Sentinus, g10r poem and verse colophon by Johannes Santritter, g10v blank). 58 leaves. 31 lines.
The “Poeticon Astronomicon” (more correctly, the “Astronomica”) is an ancient Roman work on the constellations chiefly based on the work of the Greek scientist Eratosthenes (3rdc. B.C.). The work was traditionally attributed to the first century writer C.
Chancery folio: 29 x 20.7 cm. 290 lvs. unnumbered (of 292, lacking 2 of the 3 blanks). Signatures: a-z⁸ A-I⁸ kk⁸ L-M⁸ N-O⁶ . Lacks blanks a1 and L8. Blank O6 present.
Books printed by Rood are extremely rare. The printer is represented in North America by 10 complete volumes, comprising 3 copies of this title (Folger, Morgan, Brown) [a 4thcopy, at Yale Center for British Art, lacks two text leaves], 1 copy (Morgan) of Richardus Rolle de Hampole's "Explanationes in Job" (ISTC ir00305000), and 6 copies (Harvard, Princeton, Morgan, Newberry, UC Law, Yale) of Lyndewode's "Constitutiones provinciales ecclesiae Anglicanae" (ISTC il00413000.
ISTC il00075000; HC (+Add) 9928; GW M17160; BMC XI 236; Bod-inc L-043; Goff L-75; not in BSB. For the Yale copy, see Grolier Club. Fifty-five books printed before 1525 (1968), 38; Madan, F. Early Oxford Press, pages 2-3, 255-256; Madan, F. Oxford books, 9, (10)
Astronomy and Meteorology; Flora and Fauna: The Natural World in the Middle Ages. With 15th c. Provenance. Bound at the Monastery of St Zeno
Strasbourg: Printer of the 1481 Legenda aurea, 22 March 1482
$35,000.00
Folio: 29.2 x 21.8 cm. 274 unsigned leaves. [A-C]8, [D]10; [a-m]8, [n]6,[o-z]8, [aa-ff]8, [gg]10. Complete with the initial and final blanks.
The arrival of printed books is so often regarded as one of the inaugural moments of the renaissance that it is sometimes forgotten that the first years of print also represented the last great flowering of the Middle Ages. The “Lumen Anime” (Light of the Soul), is testament to that. Formerly attributed to the Carmelite friar Mathias Farinator of Vienna (who compiled the index), the “Lumen Anime” is now known to be Berenger of Landorra, General of the Dominican order and archbishop of Campostella from 1317 to 1325.
BMC I, 97; Hain-Copinger 10333*; Goff L-396; Proctor 413; Polain 1468; Wellcome I, 2175; Klebs 631.3; Thorndyke III, 546ff. Sources: Mary A. and Richard H. Rouse, ‘The Texts called Lumen Anime,’ Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 41 (Rome, 1971), 5-113; N.R. Ker, Records of All Soul’s College Library. 1437-1600 (Oxford, 1971), 27.
Quarto: 19.5 x 14.3 cm. 60 lvs. Collation: a-g8, h4. 30-31 lines, Gothic type
A fine copy of Erhard Ratdolt’s beautiful printing of Sacrobosco’s “Sphere”, the core astronomical textbook from the Middle Ages to the early 16th century. This edition is the first to include key texts by two of the most influential 15th c. astronomers: Johannes Regiomontanus and Georg Peurbach.
Working in the vein of the Renaissance humanists, Peurbach and his student Regiomontanus sought out the extant scientific writings of antiquity, the classical foundations of medieval European and Arabic science.
Chancery folio: 2 parts in one volume. 30 x 21 cm. [208] lvs. Collation: [*]10, a-b8, c-d6, e-h6.8, i8, k-n6.8, o-t8, v6; A-B8, C-F6.8, G8
Johannes Cassianus is an elusive and remarkable figure. As a young man, he lived as a monk in Palestine for about three years, before venturing on to Egypt. While it is unclear how much time Cassian spent in Egypt, he learned a great deal about the Egyptian monastic tradition. He would later use the Egyptian monastic model as a blueprint when forming his own community in Gaul, and would incorporate the philosophy of the Egyptian monks in his major writings.
Chancery folio: 26.5 x 19 cm. 206 leaves. [*]4, a-z/8.10. 7a 33 lines and foliation, 199 (207) x 119 mm. Types 147 and 121.
The sole 15thc. edition of Humbert of Romans' important explication of the Rule of St. Augustine, "Expositio regulae beati Augustini Episcopi". The Latin original was not printed until the 16thc. and this is apparently the onlyedition of the German translation. According to ISTC, "current research suggests the Dominican Georg Falder-Pistoris (d.
Venice: Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus, 20 February 1488/ 1489
$16,000.00
Median quarto: 24 x 18 cm. a10, A-Z8, AA-PP8. Complete. Without the initial (a1) and final (PP8) blanks.
A very fine copy of these Lenten sermons by Ambrosius Spiera, a Servite theologian born in Treviso near Venice around 1413. Spiera studied rhetoric, poetry, and music under his father, Bartolomeo, head of Treviso's public gymnasium. At 16 he became a novice in the Servite order at Treviso, at the monastery of St. Catherine the Virgin. At the end of his novitiate, around 1430, he went to study at Perugia, where he met St.
Hyginus, C. Julius (1st century A.D.); Aratus, of Soli. (c. 315-c. 245 B.C.); Proclus Diadochus (ca. 410-484)
Fabularum Liber, Ad Omnium Poetarum Lectionem Mire necessarius, & nunc denuo excusus: Eiusdem Poeticon Astronomicon Libri quatuor. Quibus accesserunt similis argumenti, Palaephati de fabulosis narrationibus, Liber I.
I. Goff C-118; Hain 4371*; Klebs 668.2; Smith (Rara Arithmetica) p. 67; Pell 3225; IGI 2427; Pr 7215; BMC VII 1068 (IB 31860). II. Wellcome I, 3377; Zinner 1592
The First Illustrated Martial bound with A Catullus Incunable
Venice: Venice: Philippus Pincius (Filippo Pinzi), 1510
$14,000.00
Folio: 31 x 21.5 cm. I. (Catullus) [158] lvs. Collation: A-c8, d-e6, f-s8, t-x6 (lacking blank leaf x6). II. (Martial) CLXI lvs. Collation: A-T8, V10 (lacking blank V10)
THE FIRST ILLUSTRTED EDITION OF MARTIAL:
The book is illustrated with 15 woodcuts, beginning with a scene showing five seated figures writing, the central three identified as Martial and his commentators Domizio Calderini (1447-1478) and Giorgio Merula (ca.
I. Goff T-372; Hain 4763; Proctor 5029; BMC V, 439; Literature: Julia Craig Gaiser, “Catullus” in “Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum”, Vol. VII). II. EDIT 16, CNCE 34895
Basel: and Strasbourg: and Paris: Io. Froben, and Excusum per Renatu[m] Beck in aedibus zum Thiergarten, and Jean Petit, In vico Sancti Iacobi, 1515 and 1515 and 1513
$20,500.00
Large Quarto: 3 works bound in one volume: I. Piccolomini: i-iv, A-B4, C8, D-E4, F8, G-H4, I8, K-L4, M8, N-O4, P6. II. Lactantius: A6, B4, a-z8/4, A-D8/4, E6, F-N8/4, O6, P4. III. “Praise of Folly”: a-h4, a-z4, A-B4, C6
This edition includes the original dedicatory letter to Thomas More, whose name Erasmus plays upon cleverly in the title of the work; and the letter to Martin Dorp in which Erasmus explains his motives for writing the “Moria”: “My aim in the ‘Folly’ was exactly the same as in my other works. Only the presentation was different. In the ‘Enchiridion’ I simply outlined the pattern of a Christian life.
I. “Germania”: BM STC German p. 701 = Proctor 10307. Not in Adams. Panzer VI.75.410. Ritter 1878. Muller, Bibliographie Strasbourgeoise II, 228 no. 26. Schmidt (Beck) 21. II. Lactantius: Adams L-14; BSB-Ink L-13; HC 9819; Moreau, Inventaire chronologique II 637. III. “Praise of Folly”: Vander Haeghen I, 122; Kossmann 967; Bezzel 1304; Not in De Reuck; BM STC German p. 282; Adams E 392; VD, 16E 3184
